elebrate the joyful
event."

"How grand!" said the Cock. "I certainly am delighted at the
news." But he spoke in an absent way, and stretching up on
tiptoes, seemed to be looking at something afar off.

"What is it you see?" asked the Fox a little anxiously.

"Why, it looks to me like a couple of Dogs coming this way. They
must have heard the good news and--"

But the Fox did not wait to hear more. Off he started on a run.

"Wait," cried the Cock. "Why do you run? The Dogs are friends of
yours now!"

"Yes," answered the Fox. "But they might not have heard the news.
Besides, I have a very important errand that I had almost
forgotten about."

The Cock smiled as he buried his head in his feathers and went to
sleep, for he had succeeded in outwitting a very crafty enemy.

_The trickster is easily tricked._

[Illustration]

THE DOG IN THE MANGER

A Dog asleep in a manger filled with hay, was awakened by the
Cattle, which came in tired and hungry from working in the field.
But the Dog would not let them get near the manger, and snarled
and snapped as if it were filled with the best of meat and bones,
all for himself.

The Cattle looked at the Dog in disgust. "How selfish he is!"
said one. "He cannot eat the hay and yet he will not let us eat
it who are so hungry for it!"

Now the farmer came in. When he saw how the Dog was acting, he
seized a stick and drove him out of the stable with many a blow
for his selfish behavior.

_Do not grudge others what you cannot enjoy yourself._

[Illustration]

THE WOLF AND THE GOAT

A hungry Wolf spied a Goat browsing at the top of a steep cliff
where he could not possibly get at her.

"That is a very dangerous place for you," he called out,
pretending to be very anxious about the Goat's safety. "What if
you should fall! Please listen to me and come down! Here you can
get all you want of the finest, tenderest grass in the country."

The Goat looked over the edge of the cliff.

"How very, very anxious you are about me," she said, "and how
generous you are with your grass! But I know you! It's your _own_
appetite you are thinking of, not mine!"

_An invitation prompted by selfishness is not to be accepted._

THE ASS AND THE GRASSHOPPERS

One day as an Ass was walking in the pasture, he found some
Grasshoppers chirping merrily in a grassy corner of the field.

He listened with a great deal of admiration to the song of the
Grasshoppers. I